HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!! (for Sunday)

So after we watched the entire series of the highly addictive ‘HOUSE MD’ season 3... we started living again!

Sunday was one of the busiest and most enjoyable days in Iwama so far. ‘Matsuri’ is the Japanese word for festival - so it was the Iwama festival on Sunday. It is an annual event that everyone takes VERY seriously - and rightly so, it is an amazing event.

I had no idea what all this was about so the whole day was an eye opener.

The day started early with Simon training at 9am. Immediately after training we had to be at Sensei’s house where the final preparations were made on the cart. Sensei works on his lions head and the cart itself the whole year round so he absolutely loves the day. Final preparations included Sensei buying beer for everyone and everyone else practicing the very unique drum rhythm. Most of the drummers were Japanese, it’s the sort of rhythm that unless you have been raised listening to it or you have practiced it before the day you cant just pick it up on the day. Jonathan was the only westerner that knew the rhythm well enough to play.

While we were at Sensei’s house waiting for things to get started I took these shots.

As we were standing around waiting to start pushing the cart to God knows where another cart came along ...

Then the procession started .. we didn’t know quite where we were headed but Sensei made it VERY clear which way to go.

We ended up in a ‘holding’ type area. The official start time of the Matsuri was 4pm. We arrived at the holding place at about 2 so we had some time to kill.

After waiting around in the heat for a few hours we pushed the cart to the main street where all the other carts gathered in preparation for the grand opening of the street festival. People were dressed in some of the most amazing outfits I have seen. Old folk and school children were all a part of this amazing day. There were schools that had a place in the parade - with all the children dressed in the most gorgeous outfits. There were other martial arts groups that were also involved. There were food stalls everywhere and everyone was having a ball. We were all given a Matsuri scarf to wear. So these shots are of us leaving the holding area .. making our way to the festival area and then the actual festival itself.

 

the festival went all afternoon ... marching up and down the main street of Iwama ... finally we made our way back to Sensei’s old house where there was a meal prepared. Everyone was absolutely KNACKERED - so say the least. But the meal was great. And after some good food and plenty of booze everyone picked up a bit. We finally made it to bed sometime after midnight. A LONG LONG day :)

I cant believe my baby brother is twenty ... freekin’ nine!!! Old bastard!